Five people protesting against Navalny’s indictment detained in Kirov

July 18, 2013, 14:55 UTC+3The spontaneous rally started as soon as the court pronounced a verdict to Navalny

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KIROV, July 18 (Itar-Tass) - Five persons were detained in Kirov for taking part in an unauthorized march of supporter of opposition activist and candidate for Moscow’s mayor Alexei Navalny, who has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Among those detained was Nikolai Lyaskin, the head of Navalny’s headquarters in Kirov.

The spontaneous rally started as soon as the court pronounced a verdict to Navalny. About a hundred activists with slogans and posters in support of Navalny chanted anti-governmental slogans when Navalny was taken from the court building. Later, the activists marched to a detention ward. Currently, they are marching to another Kirov detention ward, where Navalny is supposed to be taken to.

Opposition leader and candidate for Moscow mayor Alexei Navalny has been sentenced to five years in prison for masterminding a property embezzlement scheme at the Kirovles enterprise on Thursday. The second defendant, former director of the limited liability company Vyatka Forest Company Pyotr Ofitserov was sentenced to four years in prison.

Pyotr Ofitserov was also fined 500,000 roubles.

The lawyers of Navalny and Ofitserov will appeal the verdict of the Leninsky District Court of Kirov.

The court verdict raised shock among people present in the courtroom, as many supporters of Navalny, his parents and his wife came for the pronouncement of the verdict from Moscow. They were initially sure of a suspended sentence to Navalny. After the pronouncement of the guilty verdict Navalny’s parents cried out in tears. The bailiffs permitted the convicts to say goodbye to their relatives, after that they were convoyed from the courtroom.